Day Thirty-Nine: Right (approximately) back where we started from

They say a good night's sleep heals all wounds. Actually, maybe that's not what they say. They say something, and it has to do with all wounds getting healed. I think I saw it in an Aloe Vera commercial. In any case, I woke up the morning of Day Thirty-Nine feeling a lot better. A lot better, and also really, really ready to get going.

First stop was a awesome and a random one. We had originally planned on getting home via a northern route through northern Utah. But when we heard that my dad was going to be in Las Vegas for his (whopping) 55th high school reunion, we thought to ourselves: "Hey! You know what's better than Utah?" So, in addition to the hundreds of California license plates in the parking lots and the streets and other evidence of our alarming proximity to home, we got to breakfast with Papa Higa at the California Hotel. Off the strip in the "Downtown" area, the California Hotel is the go-to stop for folks from Hawaii. The familiar and friendly faces of a casino full of people who looked like they could be my aunties and uncles was a welcome contrast to the patrons who had alarmed me so the night before. And a Hawaiian clientele meant that I could be assured that there would be rice on the buffet. Plus, my Papa-san is freaking rad, so, as he would say, the whole breakfast experience pretty much "hit the spot."

Of course, when we pulled out of the parking garage, we were heading back on the road, and that was another thing altogether.

Day Thirty-Nine was a day of milestones and victories, but it was also one of the more difficult ones of the trip, kinda all for the same reasons. Day Thirty-Nine was the day that we finally, finally, after more than five weeks of driving, crossed that lovely California state line. And it was also the first day since heading westward in Vermont that we made a very conscious decision to drive away from home. We were having dinner and other birthday festivities in Monterey with our unnecessarily wonderful friend Val, her equally awesome boyfriend Whitney, and an assortment of their beautiful friends, including our very own Angie. It was certainly something fun and exciting to look forward to, but it also meant getting to within an hour and a half of home and then turning right and driving for six hours. I think I would've been okay, but there was a billboard right around the state line advertising the local pizza place just down the street from my parents' house, to which I would often walk for lunch on summer days. I admit I teared up a bit, and then we kept on keeping on.

We arrived in Monterey to find our friends relaxin' pool side, giving that gorgeous California sun a good ol' chlorine washing. I'm afraid we may have made a poor impression on those who didn't know us already, as we were more than a little overwhelmed by the circumstances. But we had a blast anyway, exhausted and road-weary as we were, and we were glad to be back with California folk, on California soil, even if it was a little north of home. What does 365 miles really mean, in the grand scheme of things?

We listened to: "California Girls" by The Beach Boys, "California Love" by 2Pac, Californication (Red Hot Chili Peppers), "Winding Road" by Bonnie Summerville, "More Bounce in California" by Soul Kid #1, and the sweet sounds of K-EARTH 101.1 gently rocking us into a Motown Weekend.

Mystery Words: "That's not even a thermometer."

Mike's all caught up!: astoriedyear.blogspot.com